"I hope they're ok."
Armando was running as fast as he could. When the fight broke out, he immediately went around the area to see if he could find anyone to help them, but he found nobody.
"Of course today had to be a low day," he said as he gritted his teeth. "Please, everyone…"
He sped up some more as he was approaching before stopping, a horrified look on his face: everyone was dead.
He shook his head, trying to focus himself before looking at the scene again—maybe someone was still alive. His eyes stopped on someone who was sitting straight.
He cautiously approached, not having high hopes. I mean, given the scenery, it would be weird that someone survived.
"Hey, you're alive ?" He asked towards the person sitting.
"I… think ?"
Holy—he answered !
Armando rushed towards him, happy that at least someone survived all that. As he sits in front of the man, he takes a good look at him.
The sitting person was a man with shoulder-length gray hair and deep blue eyes. He was wearing Mercenary armor—which consists of a black bodysuit with white body armor—whose neck area was covered in blood.
"Yo man. I'm Armando; what's your name ? Are you okay—well, I mean, as okay as someone can be in this situation ?"
"My name... huh... yes, Silver. My name's Silver."
As he answers, Silver looks up from the ground. In front of him was sitting a man—a young man, probably younger than him—with tanned skin, brown eyes, and short, curly hair. He's wearing a green jacket with a red shirt, black leggings and white sneakers; overall, an athletic-looking guy.
"And if I'm okay ?" continues Silver"I'm not sure. You see that ? That's my head; well, at least it was. I'm pretty sure the Triclops decapitated me with a backfist, but I'm still here, alive and breathing—breathing without a helmet, mind you."
"You... died but came back to life ? Well, what can I say except... congratulations ?"
"Huh ?" Silver has a puzzled look on his face. The hell does he mean congratulations ?
"Now you're an Awakened !"
Silver couldn't say anything; he was flabbergasted. What ? He's an Awakened now ? But how ? Because he came back to life ? And how did he do that ? A million questions were rushing his mind, but he didn't have the time to think about them.
"Let's move," suggests Armando. "The scent of death is going to draw monsters here. I'll explain to you what's going on while we walk. Can you stand up ?"
"I-yeah, yeah, I can."
Following Armando's instructions, Silver slowly gets up. He is still a bit wobbly from the whole "coming back to life" thing, but he manages to stand up straight. As he does, he rips up the top of his armor and throws it to the ground, revealing his toned torso and arms.
"You should probably keep that on."
"Yeah, for all the good it did him." sarcastically says Silver as he points to a Mercenary cut in half the long way. "And it's hot as hell with those on."
"I... don't have anything to retort. Let's go."
"Wait, before we go, can we collect the IDs of all of them ? We won't be able to bring back the bodies, but at least it would be something."
"You're right, that's the least we can do."
As he says that Armando and Silver starts searching the bodies, trying to find the IDs that are obligatory to descend in the Dungeon.
After a few minutes, they regroup, ready to go. But-
"Where did you find that ?"
Silver was now wearing a black jacket. The right side is almost completely ripped off.
"It was to that Jack guy. I mean, he won't be using it no more."
"You know what ? Fair. Let's go."
***
Even if they are just two now, Armando and Silver were advancing way slower than with the full group, Silver's condition not allowing him to just run. Talking about his condition:
"Hey bossman, shouldn't you explain to me what the hell is going on ?" said Silver while panting, trying as hard as he could to catch his breath.
They were hidden in a small crevasse, resting for a minute.
"Yeah, I'll tell you now." Armando sits in front of Silver and looks him intensely in the eyes. "What do you know about Awakened ?"
"Well, they can breathe effortlessly in the air of the Dungeon, which would kill a normal human; they have unnaturally powerful bodies and some sort of supernatural abilities."
"But you don't know how one Awakens, right ?"
"What ? Obviously not; nobody knows. But do you have to, like, die in the Dungeon ?"
"It's more complicated than that. In reality, there is no surefire method to Awaken. Some do after dying and being brought back to life by the Dungeon, some after eating some monster flesh, and some just by spending a lot of time down here."
Silver was listening with a lot of attention: ever since he was a kid, he was interested—obsessed even—with the Dungeon. He tried his damn best to learn about Awakening but the best he could find were theories, nothing concrete.
"Now, what actually is an Awakening. To be frank, calling it an Awakening is more a marketing ploy than anything. In truth, we obtain those abilities because we become a part of the Dungeon; it's closer to a curse than anything."
"Wow, wait what ? A curse ?"
"Yeah, it's actually one of the reasons why we can't talk about it to the general public. We literally cannot reveal anything to non Awakened. See it as a supernatural NDA. But with that curse come some bonuses. You're feeling sluggish right now, right ?"
"Yeah, I feel really slow and tired, but not at the same time; hard to explain."
"Makes sense. What you call "Dungeon Fumes" is actually "Magia": it's the life force of the Dungeon, and now yours too."
"Magia…" So that's what this is—ever since he Awakened, Silver could taste something in the air.
"As to why you're feeling like that: Magia is a raw element, meaning that it needs to be processed in your body. Right now your body isn't used to it, and your reserves are at the absolute minimum to function. See it as your body refining crude oil into gasoline to be able to have your motor running."
That's a lot of info for Silver to digest. But he had a question burning in his mind.
"And your abilities ?"
"The most interesting part, right ?" asked Armando with a sly smile on his face. "Refined Magia is called Mana, and it's the most important thing for a Dungeonaut. Watch."
As he says that, Armando's hand starts to faintly glow. He raises it towards Silver; his hand is coated in a greenish energy.
"This is Mana. By manipulating and mastering it, we can create and use our abilities."
"Wow." Silver was mesmerized. Before, when Awakened used any kind of ability, it simply looked like they became blurry, but it was simply because he couldn't see the Mana.
"There are different steps to Mana mastery, but for the time being, you should focus on filling your reserves. Close your eyes."
Silver followed Armando's instructions and closed his eyes, but he could still faintly see the contour of things. Was this the doing of the ambient Magia ?
"Good, now empty your head and focus on the Magia around you," continued Armando. "Feel it, sense it. Now, think of yourself as a black hole—you are aspiring all the Magia around you."
Silver executed himself. Emptying his mind, he only focused on sensing the Magia. He then imagined himself as absorbing all that he could feel. Quickly he felt it entering his body and being transformed, refined.
"Yeah, great !" exclaimed Armando. "You have a knack for it."
Silver continued but soon felt a warm pain in his muscles. He winced, which Armando immediately caught on.
"Don't worry, the pain's normal. You're filling your muscles with Mana for the first time; they need to adapt. Then it's going to be worse: your organs are also gonna fill too, which hurts like hell, but trust the process."
So Silver continued, trying his best to ignore the pain he felt. After some long, agonizing minutes, the pain went away.
He finally opened his eyes, sweating and panting like crazy.
"I'm genuinely impressed," remarks Armando. "Usually it takes multiple sessions, but you did it in one go."
"What ?" exclaimed Silver between two heavy breaths. "I didn't have to do it in one go ?"
"It's for taking my friend's jacket." Armando was chuckling. "Also, if we come in contact with monsters now, you won't get one shotted. C'mon, let's get moving."
Silver groaned. As he stood back up, he felt good—really good, more energized than he felt in his whole life. He smiled as he tightened his fist: finally he was an Awakened, he had finally accomplished a part of his lifelong dream.